Tag: September 1919

Hellraisers Journal: Steel Strike Begins Monday; Mother Jones Back in Pittsburgh: “I CAME HERE TO RAISE HELL!”

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones Raising Hell, NYT p1, Oct 6, 1916———-

Hellraisers Journal – Saturday September 20, 1919
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – Mother Jones Arrives to “Raise Hell”

From the Fairmont West Virginian of September 18, 1919:

GSS Mother Jones Pittsburgh Ive Come to Raise Hell, W Vgn p1, Sept 18, 1919———-

“I’ve Come to Raise Hell!”
Mother Jones Announces

Famous Labor Worker is
in Pittsburgh for the
Steel Strike.
—–

By LEE J. SMITS.
N. E. A. Staff Correspondent.

GSS Mother Jones, WVgn p1, Sept 18, 1919

PITTSBURGH, Pa., Sept. 18.-The chief of police in a steel town said: “I’d rather see a mob of armed strikers marching down Main street than have that old lady arrive on the scene.”

He meant Mother Jones.

From mine fields of West Virginia and Colorado; from every field where labor and capital have battled, come the tales of this white-haired warrior, who has been in jail more times than she can remember, who is called a demon by her foes and an angel by her friends.

She says she is 89 years old, but her voice rings out like a bugle call and she expects to see labor triumphant, not only in the steel strike, but in every industry in the United States.

“I came here to raise hell,” said Mother Jones, as she looked up from her sewing to welcome me.

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Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Speaks in Cleveland to Delegates of Convention of United Mine Workers of America, Part III

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, UMWA Until We Win, Clv UMWC p618, Sept 17, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Friday September 19, 1919
Cleveland, Ohio – Mother Jones Speaks at U. M. W. A. Convention, Part III

Mother Jones addressed the convention once again during the afternoon of Wednesday September 17th, the seventh day of the convention. She urged the miners to unite behind the steel workers in their upcoming battle against the Steel Trust:

I beg of you for the sake of the heroes that are going to break into the war Monday [September 22nd] for a better civilization, to bury the hatchet and come together, regardless of what may happen. Let the enemy see that we are a solidified army and ready for the war if they want it.

From Stenographic Report by Mary Burke East:

ADDRESS OF MOTHER JONES.

Mother Jones Crpd Women in Industry, Eve Ns Hburg PA p2, Jan 6, 1919

Now, boys, I have got to go; I am called away. I don’t know whether it will ever be my privilege to attend another of your conventions. The battle of ages is on; we have got to fight it and it has got to be won. In an hour or so I will leave for the steel strike in Pittsburgh. I have no doubt the bonds of those poor steel workers will be broken before we end. It has been a long struggle, but it is going to come to an end.

Now, I am going to say a few words to you, and I want you to pay attention to what I say. Don’t forget the men and women who gave up their lives for this movement in Utah, Colorado, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. This movement was founded on the blood of men who tramped the weary pathway at night, often hungry and cold, to carry the message of a better day to you. Some of you remember the awful day at McCray’s School House, when you walked forty miles, hungry and worn out, to attend that meeting. The fact of your meeting here today is due to the work of those men who are in their graves.

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Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Speaks in Cleveland to Delegates of Convention of United Mine Workers of America, Part II

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Judge Gary Cup of Rice, Clv UMWC p540, Sept 16, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday September 18, 1919
Cleveland, Ohio – Mother Jones Speaks at U. M. W. A. Convention, Part II

From Stenographic Report by Mary Burke East
-September 16th speech of Mother Jones continued:

Mother Jones Crpd Women in Industry, Eve Ns Hburg PA p2, Jan 6, 1919

In Homestead the labor men were allowed to speak for the first time in 28 years. We were arrested the first day. When I got up to speak I was taken. Eight or ten thousand labor men followed me to the jail. They all marched there. When we went into the jail they remained outside. One fellow began to cry and said: “What for you take Mudder Jones?” and they took him by the neck and shoved him behind the bars. That is all he did or said. We put up a bond of $15 each. We were to come for trial the next day, but the burgess didn’t appear. They postponed the trial on account of the mob that appeared outside. When they got me in jail the police themselves got scared to death. One of our men said: “Mother can handle those men.” He was told, “No, nobody can handle them.” “Yes, she can; let her get out.” I went out and said: “Boys, we live in America! Let us give three cheers for Uncle Sam and go home and let the companies go to hell!” And they did. Everybody went home, but they went down the street cheering. There was no trouble, nobody was hurt-they were law-abiding. They blew off steam and went home.

In Duquesne they took forty men. One man came out of a restaurant and asked what the trouble was. They got him by the back of the neck and put him behind the iron bars. He was kept there from two o’clock Monday afternoon until ten o’clock Sunday morning without a bite to eat or even a drink of water. That was the only crime the man had committed. Is there any kaiser who is more vicious than that? Do you think it is time for us to line up, man to man, and clean out those kaisers at home?

The steel workers have taken a strike vote and decided to strike. You men must stand behind them. Never mind what anybody says, that strike will come off next Monday. The miners and all the other working men of the nation must stand with them in that strike, because it is the crucial test of the labor movement of America. You are the basic industry. They didn’t win the war with generals, and the President didn’t win the war. They could have sent all the soldiers abroad, but if you hadn’t dug the coal to furnish the materials to fight with, what could they have done? You miners at home won the war digging coal. You have been able to clean up the kaisers abroad, now join with us and clean up the kaisers at home.

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Hellraisers Journal: Mother Jones Speaks in Cleveland to Delegates of Convention of United Mine Workers of America, Part I

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Mother Jones, Strikes are not peace Clv UMWC p537, Sept 16, 1919———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday September 17, 1919
Cleveland, Ohio – Mother Jones Speaks at U. M. W. A. Convention, Part I

During the afternoon session of the sixth day of the Convention, Tuesday, September 16th, Mother Jones was introduced by Acting President John L. Lewis. The entire delegation arose to applaud Mother Jones as she was escorted to the platform.

From Stenographic Report by Mary Burke East:

Mother Jones Crpd Women in Industry, Eve Ns Hburg PA p2, Jan 6, 1919

Acting President Lewis: The chair will ask the delegates who are seated on either side of Mother Jones to escort her to the platform.

The entire delegation arose and applauded as Mother Jones was escorted to the platform.

Acting President Lewis:…This is one great assemblage of men where Mother Jones needs no introduction. She comes today from somewhere, I know not where, but from wherever she hails we know she has been on an errand of assistance and mercy to the down-trodden toilers, and she merely stops for a moment to come into her own union, there to greet her own boys. Her life has been devoted to the cause for which she has given her years and her wisdom and her ability. She has come to be loved by every man who has ever attended our conventions and by all the mine workers of the United States. We claim her as our own.

ADDRESS OF MOTHER JONES.

I didn’t come into the convention this afternoon to speak, but they took me by surprise—like the police did. I am not going to take up much of your time. There has been too much time spent in oratory. For the last four weeks I have been with the steel workers. If you want to see brutal autocracy, come with me to the steel centers and I will show it to you. The world does not dream of the conditions that exist there.

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WE NEVER FORGET: Four Standard Steel Car Strikers Gunned Down by Company Gunthugs & City Police of Hammond

Janet RayeWe Never Forget
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Quote Mother Jones, Pray for dead, Ab Chp 6, 1925———-

We Never Forget, ed Sept 9, 1919, Hammond IN, 4 Strikers Killed———-

WE NEVER FORGET
The Hammond Massacre of September 9, 1919

Headline from Hammond’s Lake County Times of September 9, 1919:

WNF, Hammond IN Dead Litter Street, Lake Co Tx p1, Sept 9, 1919

From the Locomotive Firemen’s Magazine of September 15, 1919:

The Hammond Strike

WNF, Hammond IN List of Dead, Lake Co Tx p1, Sept 9, 1919

At Hammond, Ind., four strikers were killed and two score or more seriously wounded in a fight on September 9, in which, according to press reports, the steel company’s armed guards and city police fired more than one hundred shots.

The strike at Hammond started on August 18, when approximately 2,000 of the Standard Steel Car Company’s employes demanded the eight-hour day, recognition of their union and that their pay be raised from the present rate of 42 cents an hour to 50 cents an hour. On August 21 eleven companies of militia were quartered in Hammond and these state troops remained there a week, leaving on August 28. There was no disorder until September 2, when strike breakers were put to work and the strikers picketed the plant.

Mayor Brown of Hammond determined not to ask for state troops again, press reports state, and relied on policemen armed with sawed-off shotguns, and armed guards employed by the Standard Steel Car Company to maintain order.

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WE NEVER FORGET: Young Men Shot Down by State Guardsmen During the Boston Police Strike of September 1919

Janet RayeWe Never Forget
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Quote Mother Jones, Pray for dead, Ab Chp 6, 1925———-

WNF Six Young Men Killed During Boston Police Strike, Sept 10-13, 1919———-

WE NEVER FORGET
Young Men Shot Down by State Guardsmen
September 10-13, 1919, During the Boston Police Strike

During the Boston Police Strike of 1919, six young men were gunned down by Massachusetts State Guardsmen who had been ordered into the city of Boston by Governor Calvin Coolidge. Five young men, ranging in ages from 15 to 31, were executed for the crime of playing craps on the street corners. One was killed for running away after an argument with a guardsman.

Robert Sheehan-15
Henry Grote-16
Raymond Barnes-18
Gustave Geist-25
Anthony Czar-30
Arthur B. McGill-31

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WE NEVER FORGET: Officer Richard D. Reemts Who Lost His Life September 11, 1919, During the Boston Police Strike

Janet RayeWe Never Forget
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Quote Mother Jones, Pray for dead, Ab Chp 6, 1925———-

WNF Richard D Reemts, Sept 11, 1919, Boston Police Strike———-

WE NEVER FORGET
Officer Richard D. Reemts
Who Lost His Life in Freedom’s Cause
September 11, 1919, in the Boston Police Strike

Boston Police after Strike Vote Sept 8, Strike Began Sept 9, 1919

From The Boston Daily Globe
-of September 12, 1919:

Reemts, Striking Policeman
Shot at South End, Dies
—–

[…..]

Striking Policeman Killed

The first shooting affair of yesterday [Thursday September 11th] was very unfortunate for the cause of the striking policemen. The victim was former patrolman Richard Reemts, who was attached to the Roxbury Crossing station.

He was 36 years old, married, and lived at 14 Akron st, Roxbury….

From The Boston Daily Globe of September 13, 1919:

Notice of Death

Reemts-In this city, Sept. 11. Richard D., beloved husband of Catherine Reemts (nee Bresnahan). Funeral on Monday at 8:30 a. m. from his late home, 14 Akron st., Roxbury. Funeral high mass at St. Joseph’s Church, Circuit st., at 9 o’clock. Late member of Division 10, Boston Police Department. Presence of relatives and friends requested. Auto cortege.

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Hellraisers Journal: Winthrop D. Lane for The Survey: “Uncle Sam: Jailer” – IWWs in Kansas Hell Holes-Insanity & Death

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Quote Ralph Chaplin, When we claim our Mother Earth, Leaves 1917———-

Hellraisers Journal – Thursday September 11, 1919
I. W. W.’s Languish in Kansas Hell Holes, Part V & VI of Series by W. D. Lane

From The Survey of September 6, 1919:

IWW KS, Uncle Sam Jailer by WD Lane, Survey p806, Sept 6, 1919
—–
IWW KS, Investigation by WD Lane, Survey p806, Sept 6, 1919
—–

[Parts V & VI of VI.]

V

Several times in this account I have referred to the jails described as having been “chosen” by the United States government for the confinement of prisoners awaiting trial. Let us see what justification there is for the use of this word.

The thirty-four men held under the Wichita indictment were originally taken into custody November 21, 1917. These men were all engaged in the oil industry in Kansas. They were, for the most part, young men, some of them married, some not. Judging from their names-Anderson, Boyd, Gordon, Forbes, Stark, Sapper, Barr, Poe, Gossard, Davis, etc.—many of them were of American or Allied extraction; some foreign names were among them, but only five, so far as I learned, were accused of being enemy aliens. The indictment against them charged violation of the espionage law, the food control law and the selective service law.

On March 10, 1918, a motion to quash this indictment was filed by their attorneys. No ruling on this motion was ever made. The attorneys stood ready, therefore, to go to trial on September 24, the day set. To their surprise, a new indictment was returned on that very day. This was drawn on lines similar to the previous Chicago indictment, which had resulted in sending nearly a hundred I. W. W.’s to prison for terms varying from a few days to twenty years. The attorneys could not at once accept trial on this new indictment, and so they were granted until March 10, 1919, in which to plead.

The men who, in September, had already spent ten months in jail awaiting trial, thus faced another five and a half months of confinement. Miss Lowe, their attorney, undertook to find as comfortable jails as possible, in which, she hoped, they might be allowed to spend the winter. They were then in the Sedgwick county jail, having been transferred to it for the trial. Sheriff Sprout, at Hutchinson, agreed to take twelve of the men, and the sheriff in Winfield, where there was a modern, sanitary jail, agreed to take sixteen. Thinking that she had thus arranged accommodations for twenty-eight, Miss Lowe reported her action to the United States district attorney, Fred Robertson, who was prosecuting the case. Mr. Robertson turned a deaf ear to her plea. In vain did she dwell upon the physical condition of the men and the consequences of spending another five months amid overcrowding and filth. Mr. Robertson said that prisoners had no voice in choosing their places of incarceration, and declared.that he intended to ask Judge John C. Pollock, judge of the United States district court for Kansas, to have all of the men placed in the Wyandotte county jail in Kansas City. This was one of the worst in the state.

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Hellraisers Journal: Winthrop D. Lane for The Survey: “Uncle Sam: Jailer” – IWWs in Kansas Hell Holes-Sedgwick County Jail

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Ralph Chaplin, When we claim our Mother Earth, Leaves 1917———-

Hellraisers Journal – Wednesday September 10, 1919
I. W. W.’s Languish in Kansas Hell Holes, Part III & IV of Series by W. D. Lane

From The Survey of September 6, 1919:

IWW KS, Uncle Sam Jailer by WD Lane, Survey p806, Sept 6, 1919
—–
IWW KS, Investigation by WD Lane, Survey p806, Sept 6, 1919
—–

[Parts III & IV of VI.]

III

Another jail chosen by the United States for the confinement of its prisoners awaiting trial is the Wyandotte county jail at Kansas City, Kan. I shall not go into detail about this. As at Topeka, the men are kept in an inside stockade or “tank;” this has fourteen or sixteen cells and a somewhat larger bull pen than the other. The pen is artificially lighted. Little attention is paid to ventilation. Although there were upwards of thirty men in the jail at the time of my visit, only one of the thirty-six windows was opened wide and another was opened about two inches. The men complained bitterly of the cold nights, a complaint that I could readily understand when I saw what was provided them for covering. For two nights I had been cold underneath three thicknesses of blanket and a spread, and on one of these nights had got up and placed my overcoat over me. Yet these men had a single blanket apiece, which they could fold at most into two thicknesses.

The toilets, located in an end cell, were dirty and had broken seats. The men ate their meals in their cells, after wards washing their own pans and dishes. The only places where they could wash these were in the bathtub or in the tub in which they washed their clothes. The smell of garbage was almost constantly in their nostrils, since the can for the refuse from their meals was kept inside the tank and was emptied only two or three times a week. It was full when I saw it and gave off a strong odor.

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Hellraisers Journal: Winthrop D. Lane for The Survey: “Uncle Sam: Jailer” – IWWs in Kansas Hell Holes-Shawnee County Jail

Janet RayeHellraisers Journal
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Quote Ralph Chaplin, When we claim our Mother Earth, Leaves 1917———-

Hellraisers Journal – Tuesday September 9, 1919
I. W. W.’s Languish in Kansas Hell Holes, Part II of Series by W. D. Lane

From The Survey of September 6, 1919:

IWW KS, Uncle Sam Jailer by WD Lane, Survey p806, Sept 6, 1919
—–
IWW KS, Investigation by WD Lane, Survey p806, Sept 6, 1919
—–

[Part II of VI.]

II

To begin with the Shawnee county jail at the state capital of Kansas, Topeka. Ten members of the I. W. W. were confined there at the time of my visit. These were held under what has come to be known as the Wichita indictment. Their original arrest had occurred in November, 1917, so that they had been continuously confined in one jail or another for a year and two months. All of this time they were awaiting trial.

The Shawnee jail is a typical county lock-up in structure. Its outer walls are of brick. Men are confined in a sort of room within a room, formed by constructing a rectangular stockade inside the brick walls. The walls of this stockade are of steel lattice work, the bars of the lattice being about two inches wide and the holes about two inches square. It is through these holes that light and air enter. The cells are built in two facing rows inside the stockade. Their rear walls are the walls of the stockade itself and they open toward its center. In length the stockade is about thirty-five feet, in width twenty-six.

There are five cells in each row. Each cell is seven feet wide, seven feet long and seven feet high. Ordinarily two men are placed in each of these, but when the jail is crowded additional bunks are slung from the sides and four men sleep in this space. The central part of the stockade, that not occupied by cells, is thirty-five feet long and twelve feet wide. This is the prisoners’ livingroom, the only area besides their cells to which they have access. Light enters the jail proper through windows in the outer brick walls. These windows are frosted. The light must, therefore, pass through these frosted windows, through the steel lattice work and travel the length of the cells before it reaches this inner space. The result is that no daylight ever reaches this part of the stockade. The sun was shining brightly on the day of my visit, but its rays did not penetrate to this central area. A single electric bulb burned in the ceiling and shed a ghostly glimmer over the faces of the men; this bulb is kept lighted day and night. It was possible to read in only three of the cells and then only by standing close to the latticework. On cloudy days the men light candles.

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